April 9 – England’s Professional Footballers’ Association is considering legal action if the English Football League, which covers the three divisions below the Premier League, does not scrap its proposed limits on squad sizes.
Under the proposals, teams in the Championship will be able to name 25-man squads while those in Leagues One and Two will be restricted to 20. The PFA wants teams in the bottom two tiers to also be allowed 25.
The players’ union were successful in overturning the EFL’s plans to introduce salary caps at an arbitration hearing earlier this year – and now want to go further by having squad limits scrapped.
In a hard-hitting open letter to the EFL and all its 72 clubs, outgoing PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor (pictured) writes: “Following the logic of the panel’s decision in the salary caps case, the PFA expected the EFL to remove the squad size limits because these limits were also introduced without consultation.”
“Unfortunately, the EFL is refusing to withdraw the squad size limits. Frustrating as this is, unless another solution can be found, the PFA must now therefore consider commencing a further arbitration claim and/or bringing other legal claims.”
In the letter, the PFA argues that limiting squad sizes in Leagues One and Two would “increase the risk of injury to players” because of the demands of the calendar.
It added that clubs relegated from the Championship would “be forced to honour multi-year contracts to players who are no longer able to play due to reduced squad sizes”.
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